Its Roar! The King is back?

Where to start... I had a plan to play my demon Barbarian in a certain way but due to much stress from real life (changing home and many other thingy) I never had the righ grade of attention to time good my combo or lock and be reactive enough to stay alive.
I took some time to relax and find new motivations to play this build, I was really start to think that I ended in a fail build. But maybe is not that bad... was just me.

My build is fully focused on damage. Nothing else. No compromises. I sacrifice anything on defence (HP-Mag Res-Def Lv-Spirit) to power up my Physical Attack and Attack Level at max possible.

For attack part I went back using my Strength genie with Occult Ice (necessary to have the basic lock) and I abuse of Argent Glyph on Bestial Rage to have instant Chi for combo. Demon Bestial Onslaught, Ancestral and Armageddon with Golden Glyph do the rest.

About the lock I prefer don't try the luck and use a combo in the Paralyze + Occult time. I usually start with Paralyze and if it work I proceed with Occult Ice and try the combo. In this way I give less time to react and to recover genie/pot cooldown.

About the survivability, I actually play "hit & run", while I wait for my Mighty Swing + Bestial Rage out of Cooldown to lock and try the combo again. In this 30 seconds I rely on Solid Shield of course but also on G17 weapon with Untarget to save me after Armageddon. For the rest is classic Barb "turtle" with Invoke, etc... except the fact that most the time I can't count on the magic shield from Bestial Rage.

Comments

Pure STR demon barbarian here myself, with 800+ STR using r8r def lvl weapon and warsoul 2nd cast. You seem to be doing well enough in that video I'd say and your gears are sharded/refined better than myself. I used to use Occult Ice on my high str genie for the stun, but I took that back off a long time ago. With the glyphed version of Mighty Swing being a sure shot to either root or paralyze the target, i somewhat felt the necessity of it was obsolete at that point. I rely on my tried and true combo of MS -> stomp -> (use a couple skills here while target is still rooted or paralyzed.. i like to use penetrate -> onslaught) -> Untamed Wrath stun hit right as the MS CC effect wears off.. and now Mighty Swing has come back off of cool down so you can root a player for 10 seconds solid given they have no immunity to these effects such as using domain during the lock combo. Currently using verdant glyphs on MS and Stomp (+range being a good counter to EG sins with +range daggers that like to tackling slash and stay out of what they expect your range to be) . My armageddon is wearing an argent glyph currently due to the fact i have about 19k less HP than you right now.

I highly recommend to completely disregard a STR genie (40-50 str hybrid on a Magic focused Genie is ok tho) and go full def with your genie. Also, you have such ridiculous high damage..not using the 100% hit glyph for Swing doesnt make sense.

I suggest you get a level 8 glyph for the 14 second CD but 100% para chance Mighty Swing. Especially with the next update, also please use the the golden glyph on Bestial rage. When Cornered gets transformed into a 60-80 seconds faith, you will be immune to nearly anything (cept for disarm, perigean tide and certain chi drain skills) hence you will be able to accumulate nearly unlimited chi in Mass-PvP, allowing your to invoke, trip spark, Arma, BW and literally anything you can imagine just from AOE hits you receive (ofc it depends on the situation).

As for 1v1, anything but a 100% chance glyph on Swing makes no sense. Your damage is so high that I bet you can oneshot any Caster/Light Armor char with just 1 para, Bestial Onslaught and Arma. Crit or zerk and they are dead. No need to gamble with Occult ice. In mass-PvP it's the same. Most fully buffed ppl will still insta-die from your arma.

Going with the 100% para glyph will already make you insanely more powerful and after the next update...your barb built will be the strongest built of any class in the entire game, if you use it correctly. When you can make any hit critical with untamed wrath and further increase the damage with Blood Rush..holy moly...

CC shouldn't concern you anymore. Try to deal as much AOE/Single target damage as possible, use as much reliable CC as you can (100% with 14 sec CD..at least you can count on it) and use your genie to stay alive as long as possible. Wasting your genie while being very offensive with your barb in general just gets you killed. If you are being smart about it you will never, ever die again after the next update.

About Golde Glyph on Bestial Rage you are correct, with long "Faith" effect from new Red Glyph of CB I will get huge quantity of Chi. But untill new update come out I like more Argent Glyph to get Chi when I need it and help to build Chi fast in TW.

For Mighty Swing, I can't deny that I cry alot when para fails every time but I tested it (Lv5 glyph = 16 sec CD) and I don't find myself good on that way. True I can one shot AA/LA, also buffed with a lucky zerk crit, but this way I can't kill HA class or high geared AA/LA with buff, NW/RW pots, etc. Also turtle till Para is available again is not my best, I lack of def and antistun, Occult is good also when i'm out of antistun to get the target and recover CD of Arma. I think 100% para is more suitable for 1v1 selfbuff.

About Occult Ice, I need it to be able to do some hits before Armageddon. Also I use Occult to lock some specific class (BM/DB) to have the chance to move or AA who have the flag (Ancestral on 1, Occult on another, Para on another, Ragin Slap... trying to lock more targets). True I don't need an huge lock, so I don't try the luck with longer CC but I spam Armageddon/Ancestral at the right moment.
I don't use a VIT/MAG genie in NW because is not needed. I use VIT/MAG genie in TW because I use Faith to run back after nuking a group.

Lasts... I don't have Lv.8 Glpyh hehe... too expensive QQ. And if I have to choose, I will Lv.8 Armageddon at first

Edit
I forgot... 100% para will be a good option with new long Faith...

About Golde Glyph on Bestial Rage you are correct, with long "Faith" effect from new Red Glyph of CB I will get huge quantity of Chi. But untill new update come out I like more Argent Glyph to get Chi when I need it and help to build Chi fast in TW.

For Mighty Swing, I can't deny that I cry alot when para fails every time but I tested it (Lv5 glyph = 16 sec CD) and I don't find myself good on that way. True I can one shot AA/LA, also buffed with a lucky zerk crit, but this way I can't kill HA class or high geared AA/LA with buff, NW/RW pots, etc. Also turtle till Para is available again is not my best, I lack of def and antistun, Occult is good also when i'm out of antistun to get the target and recover CD of Arma. I think 100% para is more suitable for 1v1 selfbuff.

About Occult Ice, I need it to be able to do some hits before Armageddon. Also I use Occult to lock some specific class (BM/DB) to have the chance to move or AA who have the flag (Ancestral on 1, Occult on another, Para on another, Ragin Slap... trying to lock more targets). True I don't need an huge lock, so I don't try the luck with longer CC but I spam Armageddon/Ancestral at the right moment.
I don't use a VIT/MAG genie in NW because is not needed. I use VIT/MAG genie in TW because I use Faith to run back after nuking a group.

Lasts... I don't have Lv.8 Glpyh hehe... too expensive QQ. And if I have to choose, I will Lv.8 Armageddon at first

Edit
I forgot... 100% para will be a good option with new long Faith...

Yeah, for now it's still ok but after the update 100% Swing will just be insane xDD Also, lv. 8 everything then =P Looking at Blood Rush and Stomp...damn with level 8 those skills will be insane xDD For you, with 300% blood Rush + Trip spark..you should be at around 170k base damage or more..that's just crazy, no one survives a level8 Arma with that

@mynamewasstolen If you are pure STR there are no reasons to not use Golden Glyph on your Armageddon. HP count really less than physical attack.

A very good reason for me, personally, is that I'd rather not sacrifice half my own HP on a skill that is not dealing at the very least... half of the target's HP worth of damage. Sadly, for those targets where a massive hit is needed to take them down.. my armageddon does not do the trick and instead puts me at a vulnerability. In lacking my r9 belt and only using warsoul weapon rather than zerk weapon.. I'm down 20 attack levels compared to other r9rr barbs, and the oh so crucial zerk crits that i personally feel make armageddon the powerful skill it needs to be vs HA classes.

prior to all the glyphing of skills and what not, and on the same build.. I've broken 1 million landing a zerk crit on the damage dummy using... Calamity Axes.

On the other hand, doing a triple sparked ancestral rage on the dummy utilizing your argent glyph bestial rage method.. 295,838 non crit - coming in ahead of an argent/non glyphed arma. And triple sparking a demon sunder in the same manner yields a 435,162 crit. I mean.. compared to all the rest of the damage ratings on server mine is ****, even though i do hit a lot harder than a vit build.. except for that armageddon.

Being a fan of the magic shield provided by bestial rage.. and considering it is based on 50% of base physical attack and thus having more strength in your build makes the defense provided by it stronger.. I use verdant glyph on it personally so that i can trigger the magic shield at a higher HP value.

a demon sunder + armageddon combo is feasible with the argent glyph on bestial without needing to take hits to build the chi.. but i honestly cant say when the last time was that i had anyone stand still long enough for that to be pulled off. Would certainly need a lock for that unless the person just sits there like a dummy

@mynamewasstolen If you are pure STR there are no reasons to not use Golden Glyph on your Armageddon. HP count really less than physical attack.

A very good reason for me, personally, is that I'd rather not sacrifice half my own HP on a skill that is not dealing at the very least... half of the target's HP worth of damage. Sadly, for those targets where a massive hit is needed to take them down.. my armageddon does not do the trick and instead puts me at a vulnerability. In lacking my r9 belt and only using warsoul weapon rather than zerk weapon.. I'm down 20 attack levels compared to other r9rr barbs, and the oh so crucial zerk crits that i personally feel make armageddon the powerful skill it needs to be vs HA classes.

prior to all the glyphing of skills and what not, and on the same build.. I've broken 1 million landing a zerk crit on the damage dummy using... Calamity Axes.

On the other hand, doing a triple sparked ancestral rage on the dummy utilizing your argent glyph bestial rage method.. 295,838 non crit - coming in ahead of an argent/non glyphed arma. And triple sparking a demon sunder in the same manner yields a 435,162 crit. I mean.. compared to all the rest of the damage ratings on server mine is ****, even though i do hit a lot harder than a vit build.. except for that armageddon.

Being a fan of the magic shield provided by bestial rage.. and considering it is based on 50% of base physical attack and thus having more strength in your build makes the defense provided by it stronger.. I use verdant glyph on it personally so that i can trigger the magic shield at a higher HP value.

a demon sunder + armageddon combo is feasible with the argent glyph on bestial without needing to take hits to build the chi.. but i honestly cant say when the last time was that i had anyone stand still long enough for that to be pulled off. Would certainly need a lock for that unless the person just sits there like a dummy

Wait... Let me explain better.
If you use Ethereal Glyph on Armageddon:
- Remove HP loss but reduce alot your damage, end that at the same cost Sunder will be much better.
- Sunder > Armageddon so you have a dead skill again and also you waste 1 spot on "glyphed" skills.

If you use Golden Glyph on Armageddon:
- Armageddon will be your best damage skill (any kind of build).

Anyway you can't pretend to have big power without any cons and you don't have to fear about the cons because this is actually your best skill.

I can suggest you, when you use Armageddon, to:
- Never use Armageddon when your guardian charm is in cooldown
- Never use Armageddon when you don't have any saves ready (solid shield or IG)
- Use Armageddon when your enemy is Paralyzed, this allow you to have few seconds after Armageddon, to lock or turtle.
- Use Tree of Protection when you cast Armageddon so you don't activate your guardian charm and you end with full hp after armageddon.

Wait... Let me explain better.
If you use Ethereal Glyph on Armageddon:
- Remove HP loss but reduce alot your damage, end that at the same cost Sunder will be much better.
- Sunder > Armageddon so you have a dead skill again and also you waste 1 spot on "glyphed" skills.

If you use Golden Glyph on Armageddon:
- Armageddon will be your best damage skill (any kind of build).

Anyway you can't pretend to have big power without any cons and you don't have to fear about the cons because this is actually your best skill.

I can suggest you, when you use Armageddon, to:
- Never use Armageddon when your guardian charm is in cooldown
- Never use Armageddon when you don't have any saves ready (solid shield or IG)
- Use Armageddon when your enemy is Paralyzed, this allow you to have few seconds after Armageddon, to lock or turtle.
- Use Tree of Protection when you cast Armageddon so you don't activate your guardian charm and you end with full hp after armageddon.

armageddon has for a very long time, since players have surpassed my gear level once r9 was released.. been a dead skill on my bar. I do know well how to maximize its damage with a tree of protection, and it usually follows a bestial onslaught for the crit rate boost. i know that not *every* player out there is uber tanky, and ive been catching up relatively quick i would like to think (do sometimes 2x or more UPD/DHD runs between my different toons that can enter.. so good farming profits) The damage numbers listed above were all self buffed w/o using a ToP boost/immortality or other damage amps like frenzy, EP that would work vs the damage dummy. I compare the effectiveness of my arma these days to how effective it used to be when i was wearing a mix of tt99 + r8 with a calamity axe sidearm specifically for the armageddon zerks and could one shot BMs wearing full nirvana gears. Fast forward to today.. that same skill used vs some casters even.. the damage is like a joke >.< Yes it has potential to be the most powerful with the golden glyph - but the question is "is it powerful ENOUGH" to justify its use currently. Against some people, sure - against others most definitely not. Truth be told, In tonights NW i did not even have armageddon on my glyph set. I had cornered beast argent, raging slap ethereal, devour verdant, mighty swing verdant, stomp verdant, and bestial rage ethereal. Part of why i built as pure str was to pack damage behind all of my skills, not just one of them. The situations I encounter in Nation wars these days are pretty much A) I one shot someone for 70k with ancestral rage using my r8r def weapon and omalleys.. B ) theyre too tanky vs my warsoul and jones and I play a game of stunning, try for the cleansweep, and whittling their hp down so much differences in gear levels these days that i feel theres no single best way to do things, everything is situational.